The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse

"What do we have to offer one another in these times when we still can't be together? How might we cultivate hope, even when we continue to face a raging pandemic?"

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Again, the Zoom link for SUNDAY SERVICE is

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87997820177

You may read and/or download the Order of Service here!

You can view part (not all was recorded) of the Service of Sunday May 2nd here.

You will need the passcode r?sE07Pb

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MINISTERIAL SEARCH TEAM NEWS

and

CALENDAR

The week we've all been waiting for IS HERE! The schedule has been painstakingly crafted to give everyone a chance to meet with our candidate, Alex Jensen. It is vitally important for every voter to be well informed and ready for the vote to call on (or before) May 16.

Let's UU THE VOTE!

Schedule for Candidate Week

May 9-16, 2021

Green: Open to all. Blue: For specific committees.

A schedule including Zoom links will be attached to Sunday's "Reminder" Flash, and each day's schedule (including any updates) will arrive in your inbox each morning. A paper copy of this schedule was mailed to everyone who receives the Beacon via regular USPS.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ZOOM OR CANNOT BE PRESENT SUNDAY THE 16TH, INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTING HAVE ALSO BEEN MAILED AND ARE REPEATED IN THIS FLASH. PAPER COPY BALLOTS WILL BE MAILED BY EARLY NEXT WEEK FOR RETURN BY FRIDAY MAY 14. OR YOU MAY CALL THE OFFICE AT 231-947-3117.

Sunday, May 9th

10:30-11:30 AM Service

11:30 AM-12:00 PM Zoom Break out Rooms with Alex

Monday. May 10th

10-11:00 AM Zoom with Facilities Committee

11-12:00 PM Mid-day tea with Alex.

2-3:00 PM Zoom with Staff Resources and Staff.

4-5:00 PM Zoom with Healthy Congregation Team

6-7:00 PM Zoom Dinner with Board.

Tuesday. May 11th

10-11:00 AM Zoom with Endowment Committee

11:00 AM-11:45 PM Zoom with Betsy Hammerberg.

12:45-1:30 PM Meet and Greet Alex at Cordia

2-3:00 PM Zoom with Sunday Services Committee

3:30-4:30 PM Zoom with Finance Committee

5-6:00 PM Zoom Social Justice Discussion with Alex

6-7 PM Zoom Dinner with RE Staff.

Wednesday, May 12th

9-10:00 AM Zoom Hour: Tell Alex your favorite places in
region to hike.

11:00 AM-12:00 PM Zoom: Community Needs Team

2-3:00 PM Zoom Staff Meet and Greet.

3:00-3:30 PM LDC meet and greet zoom with Alex

4:30-5:30 PM Zoom with Membership Committee

5:30-6:30 PM Zoom Dinner and Wed. Night Cocktails
with Alex

7-8:00 PM Zoom Board Meeting with Alex

Thursday, May 13th

9:30 - 10:30AM Dharma Study group. (Shantideva Fan
Club)

10:30-11:00 AM Zoom with Piecemaker's Quilt Group

1-2:00 PM Zoom with Congregational Care Team

2:30 -3:30 PM Meet Alex: socially distanced, at the
Pavilion at Botanic Gardens

5:30-7:00 PM Zoom Pizza Party for RE Families with Alex

7-8:00 PM Zoom meet and greet with Vocal Ensemble

Friday. May 14th

1-2:00 PM Zoom Service Practice w Sunday Services

Committee and Coordinators

2-3:00 PM Meet with Renée Russell.

3-4:00 PM Zoom with Program Council

5-7:00 PM Zoom"Friday Night Live at UU": Dinner,
entertainment

Sunday, May 16th

10:30-11:30 AM Service.

11:30 AM-12:00 PM The Call Vote, and
Announcement

1-1:30 PM Debrief with MST and Alex

2:30- 3:00 PM DRIVE BY CELEBRATION AT UU
PARKING LOT

3:00 PM MST takes Alex to Airport

MANY, MANY THANKS TO THE MINISTERIAL SEARCH TEAM FOR THEIR EXTRAORDINARY, HARD WORK! THANKS TO THEM AND THE BOARD FOR COORDINATING AN INCREDIBLY FULL AND COMPLEX SCHEDULE!

INSTRUCTIONS for VOTING

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The Ministerial Search Team and the Board of Trustees are pleased to be working together to get the news out on how to vote for our new minister. Meeting by Zoom for the special congregational meeting to call our new minister has some complexities! Here is how to vote:

1. If you, alone, are zooming into the service and special meeting to vote, your life is easy. You will simply be asked to participate in a poll on zoom, voting yes, no, or abstain. That vote will be taken immediately after the service on May 16th. This vote will be taken on the honor system, with only members voting. This works for two, as long as you are each on a different device. One device, one vote.

2. If you attend the meeting Zoom with a spouse or partner on one computer, one of you will call the UUCGT office at 947-3117 and give your vote to Guy, our office administrator. The Zoom poll will only allow one vote per computer, so one of you will need to plan ahead and call Guy by Friday, May 14th.

3. If you cannot attend on May 16th and you are a member, you may call Guy at 947-3117 before May 14th, and cast your vote by phone.

4. If email and zoom are not in your comfort zone, we will contact you and you will be mailed a ballot with a stamped envelope to return by Friday, May 14th.

An important thing for Unitarian Universalists is we run our congregations democratically, so please exercise your right to vote, and engage in the future of UUCGT! The future looks bright!

Note from Guy: I will likely be here in the office all weekend May 15-16. If necessary feel free to call the office for help, but non-Zoom votes should get to me via mail or phone by end of day FRIDAY MAY 14.

MUSIC

from Renée Russell

"A Few Notes"

I'm excited to share new videos of our talented and diverse group of wonderful UUCGT musicians over the next few weeks. Please reach out if you have a song or piece of music you would like to record and I would be happy to help with the process. I am happily fully vaccinated now and can assist anyone in the process of sharing your music with our congregation. I will keep everyone updated on when we can begin to safely sing together again but until then, please know all are welcome to our "virtual ensemble" rehearsals every Thursday at 7pm on zoom.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

from Claire Crandell

"Radical Kindness & Radical Compassion"

One of the sources of our UU faith is "Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by

loving our neighbors as ourselves." UUs have long welcomed this as a call to kindness.* (*from UU Soul Matters) We read a short poem by the Sufi poet Hafiz: "God and I have become like two giant fat people living in a tiny boat. We keep bumping into each other and laughing."

We laughed and talked about what a funny thing to imagine and if someone didn't believe in God they could think of God as the Goodness inside of us. A child said they believed that we all have goodness inside of us. We talked very briefly about the local high schools "slave trade snapchat" and how there are so many ways to be kind and call on our "goodness" inside to share with others. We also talked about the importance of being kind to ourselves. We watched a funny short video of "round" animals and shared how great it is that all of the designs of animals relate to what they do in nature. Then we drew a tiny boat with two round laughing beings or animals in it, We said how wonderful it was to be together and look forward to being together again next Sunday.

Please continue to give to

For Those in Need

in our virtual "collection baskets".

Community Needs Request form

BULLETIN BOARD

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OPPORTUNITIES for SOCIAL JUSTICE

Help get the For the People Act thru the Senate. Follow the link to sign, but at bottom of letter to our Michigan senators, please thank them for helping all they can. They want this to pass also!!

TAKE ACTION!!

THANKS AGAIN to the MEN'S GROUP

If you've not yet heard or seen, the Men's Group raised over $1800 to support The State and Bijou Theatres, helping them to remain solvent during the pandemic. I know I am eager to be back inside seeing great movies in addition to being thankful for the Men's Group work, so I was especially happy to see that they are STILL acknowledged this past week on The State's Marquee: I snapped this pic myself walking downtown on Sunday...

...and, obviously, so very much more.

Stay tuned, it's coming!

End Note:

"Change is hard at first, messy
in the middle, and
gorgeous by the end."

- Robin Sharma, Canadian author of

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.

The UUCGT building is closed until further notice;

however the office is again staffed (at least) Tuesday-Friday, 9am-3pm.

Please email [email protected] or call the office at 231-947-3117.
Guy would be grateful if you'd use his cell number only

for off-hours emergencies and only if Rev. Cathy is unavailable.

Contact Rev. Cathy at [email protected]

Stay up to date on the UUCGT website

www.uucgt.org